Please let me start with a thank you. I know that there are so many parents here who dedicate their time answering questions, and giving opions, insight, and even asking the best of questions. I know because I have read through so many topics. I am probably going to ask a question that has been asked a billion times, but it helps to ask myself and have it answered directly to me so I do not feel so lost. I will tell you a little about me. I am 30 years old, I live in Las Vegas, and I have one son; Justin, who is 4 years old. He is ready..I THOUGHT I was ready!! I have been homeschooling him for a year (as much as you can homeschool a child this age). I want my son to be "Peter Pan" for as long as possible, don't get me wrong, but he LOVES to learn, and I love to teach him! He is amazing really, as I am sure we all feel about our children and their ability to be little educatinal sponges. There are SO MANY reason I have chosen to homeschool, but as I am sure I share the same reasons as most everyone, I will spare everone the details. Here is my issue: My sister HS's her 3 children. She is my ONLY personal example. So she told me what she has used and which way to go. I thought ok, I can do that. I had NO idea that amount of resources available. I was just about to order my cirriculums when BAM, so many more presented themselves. I found a site that I love: www.homeschoolreviews.com But o corse now I am in tears. These are not cheap as you know, so it is important for me to choose correctly. I wanted to go with Sing Spell Read & Write, and another Bible Study Cirric. to incorperate along with it. But how do I know this is what is best for us? I read reviews and although most were positive, it seems no one used the whole cirriculum. What to do?!! Can someone please tell me how they found which of the 1000 cirriculms to go with? I am desperate!! And advise would be great. I would turn to my sister but she is SO busy, and lives across country, that it is hard to get her on the phone for more than 5 minutes Thanks all!

I have three boys and I can't afford a set curiculum. I am using The Scaresy cat Reading prgram for reading and spelling but other than that I find things online that they can do because ink and paper is cheaper than a curriculum right now. I really like the reading program and the boys do to. www.joyceherzog.com it is a lot of fun and comes with an audio CD and games and flashcards along with a fun workbook to color and play with. God bless your new endevour!

Okay- I do not want this to make things more stressful- but since you already have realized how much there is out there, maybe this can help. I hope so.

First, though, a homeschool group in your area really can be helpful because people often will share curriculum or at the least let you look at it, and you might find someone who thinks along the lines you do on homeschooling and can glean a lot from each other. Also, you may even see what you definitely do NOT want to do, which also can help.

On that note, I just went through the same thing as you- when someone lent me Mary Pride's, Big Book of Homelearning, and I thought- look at all this great stuff! And then, How am I ever going to pick anything?! They not only have material for kids' different learning styles, but parents' teaching styles.

What ended up helping me the most was defining the homeschool approach I was going to take and then going from there- and telling myself- this can change at anytime if it doesn't work for us. Next year I can always do something else. I ended up taking a lot of notes on the different methods: classical, charlotte mason, traditional, etc. and then looking at the usual curriculumns that fit in those categories. Since my oldest is 5 1/2, I figured I had time to get oriented. So I evaluated the goals and focuses of the different methods and made note of those that fit with my values and mindset. I don't have a neatly written philosophy, but a lot of notes which make up my philosophy- and though I hope someday to tighten it up and make it more coherent, I understand it and it helps. heheh. So when I see a curriculum that is neat or fun or innovative, I try and stop the suffocating pressure that comes along with the onslaught of feelings and questions: oh that would be so great, what if that one is better, am I going to flub things up for my kids, etc.

One last thing, I hope to go to a curriculum fair with my list before I buy too much (I can't help buying some, I get too excited!) so I can flip through them myself and not waste on things that will stay on the shelf. But I am not going to forget my list or I will definitely not stick to plan.

Hope some of that helps! Best of Luck! Just remember you can always change it next year.

Thank you for your replies. Im so stressed. I have done searches for some sort of fair or anything here in NV but I cannot find anything. I ill keep looking. I suppose I will stick with SSR,&W, but now I need to decide on a Bible Study cirric. Or maybe I should go with A Beka..problem there is it is as expensive as it is confusing as far as what to choose. My son is only 4, so maybe I should wait until K? I don's know. He loves his letters and sounds, and numbers. He can write some words including his name. I am just so overhwlmed by the choices. I wish there was a meeting or conference or fair I could go to

I'm afraid buying curriculum is not tax-deductible. Think about it. The federal government officially sponsors the public school system, and if they made buying curriculum tax-deductible, they'd be working against their own best interests.

However, a business can pay for the education of its employees and account for it as an expense, which at least means you're not paying taxes on the money you're using for education. This is definitely something to keep in mind for when your kids get to late high school / college age, since costs for textbooks and tuition will be significantly higher then.

You can also donate used curriculum to a 501(C) nonprofit homeschool organization and take a charity donation tax deduction.